Questions regarding the new EULA that came with today's patch update.

Agreement says:

Subject to your agreement and continuing compliance with the PORTALARIUM Terms, PORTALARIUM hereby grants to you a limited, personal, nonexclusive, nontransferable, non-assignable and fully revocable license to


Question: Can we sell our acct if we choose too?


Agreement says:

You agree that you will not, under any circumstances


Use cheats, automation software (bots), hacks, mods or any other unauthorized third-party software designed to modify the Game experience;


Question: This includes a mouse clicker I use to heal myself in battle that is attached to my hardware and has its own software and use? (Yea this same old argument.) It’s just not clear when a EULA is now saying it in no uncertain terms.



Agreement says:


IMPORTANT: PORTALARIUM MAY FIND IT NECESSARY TO MAKE UPDATES, OR PATCHES TO THE GAME CLIENT, OR RESET CERTAIN PARAMETERS TO BALANCE GAME PLAY AND USAGE OF PORTALARIUM SERVICES. THESE UPDATES OR “RESETS” MAY CAUSE YOU SETBACKS WITHIN THE GAME AND MAY AFFECT CHARACTERS, GAMES, GROUPS OR OTHER ENTITLEMENTS UNDER YOUR CONTROL. PORTALARIUM RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MAKE THESE UPDATES AND IS NOT LIABLE TO YOU FOR THESE CHANGES.


Question: Will any considerations be made to how long it takes to find, determine, fix, and then implement these balance concerns. Meaning if it is decided that enhancing is way over used or provides way over powered items therefore items and or skills will be "re balanced" We could see an update weeks or months down the road that should have been fixed or further tested before implementation because it was determined long after the fact to be off balance? Pool points returned if it that bad? And so on...



Agreement says:

Consent to Monitor



Your IP address (the Internet protocol address from which you access any of the above) may be stored in our records. When the Game, or any element or module thereof, is updated or “patched,” our patch routine may check your computer to see that you have the most recent version of game-specific files; when you communicate within the Game or any communication feature in the Game or on the Website (e.g. live chat, instant message services and the like), even “privately” to another person, you do so with the understanding that those communications go through our servers, can be monitored by us. Accordingly, you have no expectation of privacy in any of those communications and, accordingly, you expressly consent to monitoring of communications that you send and receive.



Question: This is referring to in game communication through the in game chat system only right? At no time are any of my personal chat systems or web site materials and the like such as Discord or Vent and so are also being monitored while game is running. (This may sound like a dumb question but it’s the next part of the EULA that has me asking.)


Agreement says:


You expressly permit PORTALARIUM to upload CPU, operating system, video card, sound card and memory information from your computer to analyze and optimize your Game experience, improve and maintain the Game and/or provide you with customer service. In the event that the Game detects an unauthorized third party program, (a) the Game may communicate information back to us, including without limitation your Account username, details about the unauthorized third party program detected and the activities or functions performed thereby, and/or (b) we may exercise any or all of its rights and remedies under the PORTALARIUM Terms without prior notice to the user(s) linked to such unauthorized third party program.



Question: Exactly what information in addition to the CPU information is being sent to a game company? That would permit them to determine what they would consider an unauthorized software package on my system? That it also will include my activities and how I choose to use my software. (Non Portalarium issued software) And will also be sent and acted upon without prior notice.


Agreement says:


YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT PORTALARIUM, ITS LICENSORS AND AFFILIATES ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY ACT OR FAILURE TO ACT BY THEM OR ANY OTHER PERSON REGARDING CONDUCT, COMMUNICATION OR CONTENT ON ANY PORTALARIUM SERVICES OR USE OF PORTALARIUM SOFTWARE. IN NO CASE SHALL PORTALARIUM OR ITS LICENSORS, AFFILIATES’, EMPLOYEES’, OFFICERS’, OR DIRECTORS’ (COLLECTIVELY, “PORTALARIUM AFFILIATES“) LIABILITY TO YOU EXCEED THE AMOUNT THAT YOU PAID TO PORTALARIUM FOR PORTALARIUM SERVICES. IN NO CASE SHALL PORTALARIUM OR PORTALARIUM AFFILIATES BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, GENERAL, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL. OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFIT OR REVENUES, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF PORTALARIUM SERVICES, PORTALARIUM SOFTWARE, THE INTERNET OR FOR ANY OTHER CLAIM RELATED IN ANY WAY TO YOUR USE OF PORTALARIUM SERVICES OR ACCOUNTS.


Question: I am simply confused by this statement. I understand acts of God and so on. But as a contributor of what I would not consider to be chump change. Are you saying that at PORTALRIUMs discretion I can be termed if I have what they deem as unwanted software when they scan my system, (because it supplies macro'ed hot keys without human interaction) Or termed because I have a legitimate question that might insight others to think about this so I am deemed as in-sighting trouble with my questions. And therefore can be termed with no recourse but to just sit back and accept this. (All this to play a game?)


Agreement says:


This EULA (and all subsequent modifications, if any) shall remain effective until terminated. Both you and PORTALARIUM may terminate this EULA at any time for any reason or for no reason. Termination by PORTALARIUM will be effective upon notice to you, termination or deletion of your Account, or its decision to permanently discontinue offering and/or supporting the Game, which it may do at any time in its sole discretion.


Question: I can simply wake up and be no more? No say? No reason? Regardless of contributor status and so on. And I will be provided no reason should this ever occur?




I ask these questions not as a way to insight trouble but to express genuine concerns shared by myself and guild mates. I drew the short straw here and was asked to be the one to express these concerning questions. The few others that spoke on this fear their acct loss if these questions are misinterpreted. But one can never be too afraid to simply ask and wait to see the official response to genuine concerns.


It is my hope these questions will at some point get an official Portalarium response and not just flaming and trolling from those who did not feel these questions deserved the forum time to ask and I will consider this open ended without an official response, when time permits.


I appreciate in advance any official attention this receives and Thank You for what has been an exciting game thus far.

 

I can see DarStarr now "Dont lawyer me bro"

 

I'm not a lawyer.
Is it deemed "getting all lawyery" to ask questions regarding an agreement or changes?
The forum is here for Q/A
I would imagine its not a big deal to get clarification on some points. But i noticed with this forum you are correct. Its like taboo here.
I had no concerns with the rest of the EULA.

 

"Your IP address (the Internet protocol address from which you access any of the above) may be stored in our records. When the Game, or any element or module thereof, is updated or “patched,” our patch routine may check your computer to see that you have the most recent version of game-specific files; when you communicate within the Game or any communication feature in the Game or on the Website (e.g. live chat, instant message services and the like), even “privately” to another person, you do so with the understanding that those communications go through our servers, can be monitored by us. Accordingly, you have no expectation of privacy in any of those communications and, accordingly, you expressly consent to monitoring of communications that you send and receive."

I received a 72-hour ban a week or so ago for something that I said in Private Message to another user on Discord (it could have been spoofed, but it wasnt; I said it). I'm sure that's why this was added. Portalarium is pretending to own your Discord communications.

I'm not complaining or raising a fuss, but I will give my community here a WARNING: Anything you say to any other user of the game, whether in-game, on the website, or even in Discord or instant messaging, can and will be punishable by Portalarium. I would assume this also counts for ANY communication, just to be safe (text messages, voice calls, etc).

@Berek - for good measure. Be careful what you say and know who your friends are, folks.

 

Wait.
A player reported you for something said on discord, to port, and they banned you for it?

So lets say i run orcgamers.com ( lacking i know ). And my guild of 60 or so pools info for me to one day build a proper wiki and such. If and when we use those forums, under that line of thinking, Polar can and will ban me or a guildy if something in our forums isnt to their likeing?
And the fact we have a few dozen reviews for a wider array of games, including one for SoTa during development ( idea being to do a new one on release aswell ) .. what if they dont like our opinion on it? Or what we get from a survey or something?

Not sure how i feel about that.

Or was this a personal attack on a member ?

 

Yes.

I have no idea. I don't work here, I just dance outside of Brittany.

EDIT: Your post confused me; it's Portalarium (or "port"), not "polar".

 

What was said was obviously ugly; why else ban me? The content of the message is irrelevant here; you may believe what was said to be horrendous, or innocuous. People often speak in private in ways that they do not speak in public. That is why some might assume that communications with other users said "in private" are just that: private. But they are not. I said something to someone in private on Discord (i.e., not private on the web site, which they own), that person told Portalarium, and I received a ban.

Not starting trouble, just stating an interesting fact for whoever might want to know. I think it's relevant to the EULA change.

 

Very true. It brings up an interesting thought when regarding outside opinions of the game.
Im no lawyer, but them leaving it open, i would think that its just a basic legal step. The thought they would enforce in anyway, even something personal, from an outside source is... well interesting.

Edit - hahaha polar is a brand i deal with often, i always type it instead of Port, sorry.

 

*set's lockdown timer*

I should start making book on how long a thread will go before being locked or deleted

“To find out who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.”

 

These are all very legitimate questions that make anyone with serious money invested nervous.

However, I doubt any of them will be answered satisfactorily.. It is written in legal terms for a reason, and substantive qualification or clarification would also need to be in vetted legal terms, or else the EULA could be challenged and be a real headache for portalarium should there ever be a lawsuit.

Personally, I read every policy and take them all as literally as I can... because i'm paranoid and was raised by lawyers... However I have a feeling that since port care about us, using common sense and following the spirit will generally leave you ok.

It's true that they have all the power, but motivationally, they need us more than we need them.

 

I also believe that most of the time, you're fine as long as you act reasonably. There are exceptions though, and I think a word to the wise is sufficient.

EDIT: And yeah, that was a good way of putting it @eli ... it's written that way because, well, they can't write it another way for reasons. Explaining it would obviate the need to say it that way in the first place.

 

@Berek I don't see it mentioned in the EULA, and it's up to you all if it is appropriate, but it might be good to include communication on the Steam forum is also subject to Port's communication policy.

 

Yeah, I agree...before this ball rolls any further, they ought to dot all the i's and whatnot. It's for the good of the game...

 

Ok I have to ask: is this the first time you guys actually read an EULA?
Because the stuff is rather standard.
Though I have no answers for you, because only the guys that came up with it can answer the questions, I would like to point at pretty much every other mmo like game out there as examples how things might or might not get handled in the end.

 

There is lots of dual purpose software in existence that has both innocent and not so innocent uses.
A couple of the more common examples off the top of my head are VoiceAttack and AutoHotKey, which have many legitimate uses, but can also be used to create macros - as can the software that comes with various modern keyboards and mice (including Razer devices that are promoted by Portalarium).

However, I don't think (at least I hope not) that these are what most concerns Portalarium. Simply having them on your machine should not be a cause for retribution, given their other uses, however running VoiceAttack or AutoHotKey at the same time as the game client would certainly be cause for suspicion. I suspect that the real target however is the kind of software that players of some games use to see or shoot through walls, etc. That kind of software is extremely toxic to game enjoyment (other than for those who use it), and drives away players. However, I could be wrong, and some elaboration from Portalarium would be nice. Keeping it vague may make their job easier, but it doesn't help the players who simply want to know what is permitted and what isn't.

 

Wait a minute, are you telling me that at their discretion and for any reason they deem necessary can use the client side software to log into and monitor my private communications via any private chat program? I've read the EULA and it saddens me greatly to have come to the same conclusion that those in this thread have. Even more so, and according to the EULA Im most likely now considered an agitator for even participating in this discussion. Its a shame, I love this game to the point of sharing 14K of my hard earned cash and have been following it from the beginning. Its going to very hard to play now with the thought that every action taken while logged into either the website or client software can and at any employee's whim can monitor my private communications. Very sad and disheartening to say the least.

 

That's not what is written there.

 

@Earl Atogrim von Draken

How would interpret the following statement?

Your IP address (the Internet protocol address from which you access any of the above) may be stored in our records. When the Game, or any element or module thereof, is updated or “patched,” our patch routine may check your computer to see that you have the most recent version of game-specific files; when you communicate within the Game or any communication feature in the Game or on the Website (e.g. live chat, instant message services and the like), even “privately” to another person, you do so with the understanding that those communications go through our servers, can be monitored by us. Accordingly, you have no expectation of privacy in any of those communications and, accordingly, you expressly consent to monitoring of communications that you send and receive.

When Im playing , it appears that Discord is attached to the client, am I wrong? If it is, I see this as going back to the servers and according the the EULA they have a right to monitor it.

 

Someone may correct me but no, Discord is a completely separate program that is never attached to any game client and is not run through Portalarium's servers, only Discord's.

 

Game chat, Convos on this forum and maybe their discord channle though i highly doubt that they have any possibility to read your private convos in Discord because Discord would have to allow that and give them the technical means.
In short: you ppl are blowing things way out of proportion at the momen. Sorry to be so frank.